Instead, in a pish-poor tournament devoid of serious quality, I'm backing the Welsh to do the business at a healthy 80/1.

Anyway, England's first warm-up is against Turkey in about an hour and a half. Make sure you enjoy Kane and Vardy playing up front together, because it won't be replicated at any other point this summer!

Need to play 442 diamond and midfielders to be smart. Whether its Dier, Rooney, Wilshere and Alli or you put Hendo, Barkley or Sterling in there, we need to have someone nearer Dier to protect the weak defence and use the strengths of our fullbacks properly. Rose will be a dangerous option on the front foot, but hes always going to be on to push up and will definitely get caught out.

Pulled back? Did you actually watch it? He initiated contact, even the pundits agreed. Ian Wright admitting 'I don’t think it’s a penalty'. Vardy is very clever getting across the defender & then he just plainly dives to make the most of the situation & the sheer speed he's going at, just makes the situation appear more drastic

LiamB wrote:Pulled back? Did you actually watch it? He initiated contact, even the pundits agreed. Ian Wright admitting 'I don’t think it’s a penalty'. Vardy is very clever getting across the defender & then he just plainly dives to make the most of the situation & the sheer speed he's going at, just makes the situation appear more drastic

Well if Ian Wright said that then it's gospel isn't it. The defender put his arm on Vardy, no he didn't pull him back but actually the reverse and pushed him forward which with the momentum of Vardy sent him to the ground.Was it soft? Yes. Was it a penalty though? Yes.

Simply isn't really enough time to even bother with drinkwater or delph, such is the need to give wilshere & henderson time to get fit. Rashford is surely behind Sturridge, so again, just a bench role.Even Barkley will barely get a look in. Sterling needs game time & Alli has only played once in a month or so, looked rusty yesterday. Rooney might start, but I don't see the point in risking him too much, other than from off the bench.

then onto Portugal, probably minus Ronaldo/Pepe, after the champs lge game

LiamB wrote:Pulled back? Did you actually watch it? He initiated contact, even the pundits agreed. Ian Wright admitting 'I don’t think it’s a penalty'. Vardy is very clever getting across the defender & then he just plainly dives to make the most of the situation & the sheer speed he's going at, just makes the situation appear more drastic

So you didn't see the defenders hand on Vardy at all? Seems to me you didn't watch it...

LiamB wrote:Pulled back? Did you actually watch it? He initiated contact, even the pundits agreed. Ian Wright admitting 'I don’t think it’s a penalty'. Vardy is very clever getting across the defender & then he just plainly dives to make the most of the situation & the sheer speed he's going at, just makes the situation appear more drastic

So you didn't see the defenders hand on Vardy at all? Seems to me you didn't watch it...

I thought it was a penalty for the exact reason. The collision of legs was cleverly instigated by Vardy but the hand on shoulder was all the defender.

France are my overall favourites, home advantage and a clutch of good young players coming through but I do wonder if there's a Leicesterness (in that there's not the superstars of other nations but a better team ethos) to the England squad currently.

Might stick some money on Portugal, will be interested to see them on Tuesday, especially given the rise of their next generation like Joao Mario, Renato Sanches & William Carvalho. Always been a good, solid 'tournament side' that are difficult to break down & Ronaldo will be backed up this time by some exciting youth.

1) England's defence is absolutely atrocious. Leicester got by on winning many games 1-0, but that just isn't a realistic option for England - keeping clean sheets will be incredibly tough.

2) England's promising young attacking players over the last four years have either not kicked on/are injured. Add as many names as you like to this list - Wilshere, Sterling, Young, Walcott, Oxlade, Barkley, Welbeck, Cleverley, Carroll etc.

3) Wayne Rooney will be starting. A player who has failed at the last four major tournaments he has been at is guaranteed a starting spot.

Roy's reign started quite brightly - there was some hope on the horizon, but the clouds have descended, the heavens have opened, and England are flooded out.

But I do fancy one team outside of the traditional heavyweights to come in and steal the trophy - and Wales just about do it for me.